Jason Bolwell – London Marathon

Jason Bolwell is doing the London Marathon today and it would be great if everybody at the club could show him their support by sponsoring him!

He’s doing it for two great causes Breast and Prostate Cancer (BP).

If you would like to sponsor him it only takes a couple of minutes: www.virginmoneygiving.com/jasonbolwell

Alresford v Lymington Mariners – Match Report

Mariners end season on a high

Alresford 5 – 34 Lymington Mariners

On Saturday Lymington Mariners brought the curtain down on only their 3rd season as a club with an accomplished victory over Alresford which saw them finish 5th in their first campaign in the Snows Group Hampshire 2 Division.

Skippered by team vice captain Joe Rodway on yet another Lazarus-like return from injury the line up also saw the welcome return of Jamie and Will Banasik, Max Williams and Nick Bubb – all 5 have been sorely missed in recent weeks and their presence gave the side the lift it needed following their recent inconsistent form going into their final match.

From the kick off it was apparent that both teams had their strengths – Alresford had an organised pack that was strong in the scrum and used the maul to good effect whilst Lymington had the edge in open play. – the back row and the backs far more clinical and successful with the loose ball. Lymington’s strength was the more telling and by full time the try count was 6 to 1.

The opening Lymington try was the first of a first half brace for scrum-half Chris Scott-Bowden. From the back of a ruck Chris picked the ball up and made a break through the middle of the park breaking the defensive line then side-stepping the full back and covering winger to touch down. Joe Rodway missed the conversion and Lymington were 5-0 up with only a few minutes on the clock.

Within 5 minutes Lymington had their second when from the half way line Joe Rodway fed the ball to full back Jamie Bolwell who made the break before popping to Phil Jenner. Ignoring the available two-man over-lap to Phil crashed through the final defender to touch down just wide of the posts. Chris Scott-Bowden stepped up to attempt the conversion this time but like Joe missed.

With 20 minutes on the clock Chris grabbed his second and Lymington’s third with another long range effort. From somewhere deep in Mariner territory he again picked up from the base of a ruck, darted round the blind side and up the right wing, out-stripping the Alresford veteran 2nd row and then the full back before crossing in the corner. Jamie Bolwell this time had a pop at the extras but like the previous 2 attempts the linesmen kept their flags down.

For the remainder of the half Alresford worked increasingly to keep the ball tight making ground from a series rolling mauls off the line-out. The Mariners’ defensive effort kept them at bay but a series of infringements prevented them from clearing their lines long enough to ease the pressure. Lymington were then shown two yellow cards in succession, the first to flanker Jamie Banasik for handling in the ruck. From the touch-line Jamie got to watch Alresford score their only try of the match as again they used the rolling maul and this time took it all the way across the line. They too missed the extras. With Jamie barely back on the pitch pack leader Nick Bubb then got to spend ten minutes as a spectator for a debatable high tackle.

The second half started with Alresford still a man up and this advantage was soon doubled when Will Banasik, unhappy with the referee’s decision to award a penalty against him, petulantly dished out some verbals and was also shown yellow for his troubles.

The fourth try of the match for Lymington and with it the bonus point came courtesy of new player Rob ‘could I look any less bothered’ Canford who was on hand to touch down under the posts following a quick penalty by Chris who drew the final defender before off-loading. Rob converted his own try with a drop-kick.

Lymington’s fifth score came soon after and belonged to Steve O’Callaghan. After a mazey penetrating Jamie Banasik run that was halted just shy of the line Phil Jenner took the recycled ball on the crash before it was moved to Steve O’Callaghan to power over for the touch down. Chris drop kicked the conversion.

At dome point in proceedings Jamie Bolwell sustained an ankle injury but not all was lost as Pete Allen jumped at the opportunity to hammer Jamie’s new car all the way back to the forest.

The final score of the game, Lymington’s sixth try, was scored by the ‘Lymington Rivaaz Man of the Match’ Max Williams. From a breakdown on the left side of the pitch a long pass to Jamie Banasik was thrown who amazed the rest of the team by passing the ball to back row partner Nick Bubb. Nick in turn released Max who whizzed down the right wing to score in the corner. With the final whistle came the end of Lymington’s season and a fitting end to another successful milestone in this club’s short history.

 

Snows Group Hampshire 2 League Table (end of 2011/12 season) 

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	B Pts	Pts	Adjust
Southampton	18	15	1	2	741	208	533	13	75	0
Aldershot & Fleet	18	14	0	4	450	226	224	9	66	0
Fareham Heathens	18	12	2	4	446	204	242	10	62	0
Overton	18	12	0	6	529	279	250	13	61	0
Lymington Mariners	18	10	1	7	309	429	-120	6	48	0
Locksheath Pumas	18	9	0	9	347	241	106	8	44	0
Fawley	18	7	0	11	339	390	-51	10	33	-5
Alresford	18	6	0	12	280	390	-110	7	31	0
Chineham	18	3	0	15	233	672	-439	5	17	0
Stoneham	18	0	0	18	160	795	-635	4	4	0

 

Eastleigh III v Lymington II – Match Report

Eastleigh III 34 – 12 Lymington Mariners II

14^th April 2012

Lymington Mariners II team gathered for the last time of their debut 2011/2012 season, the final match of the season being away against 3^rd in the table Eastleigh and Lymington needing a win to secure 5^th place in the table.

It was a classic Lymington team with a good combination of youthful talented players backed up by the older afterguard bringing valuable experience to the squad.

We knew even before kick off that we were going to be in for a challenging game as we arrived at Eastleigh minus a hooker, not a good start but thankfully the ever eager Pete Rolfe stepped up to the mark and took on the job, brave move as he had never even thought about this let alone played the position….this was to be a shortlived position change for Mr Rolf.

The game started as a classic Lymington fixture with the opposition taking the game to the Mariners while we were still thinking about how lovely life is in the New Forest and what we were going to be doing in the evening…….inevitably Eastleigh took the first try and a 5-0 lead. This had the desirable effect of waking the Mariners up and we at least started to put up some form of resistance. The mariners pack was struggling under the pressure and finally popped when our replacement hooker Pete Rolf was quite literally bent in half and had to retire from the game, this gave the mariners the opportunity to shuffle the positions around, bringing into the front Row founder Rob Douthwaite who had not played the position since school and Coach Rodway making a controversial switch of scrum Half Toby Bradley-Watson and Full back Craig Estevekasfklfjkzzznn. Finally Lymington became more settled and started to make some progress away from our goal line and into the opposition half and a fantastic try from the new scrum half Criag Extdfhgkzzzznn which was successfully converted by the Mariners latest recruit Cee-Lo-Green. Mariners 7 – Eastleigh 5.

Now feeling much more in control and with the Eastliegh No.10 lacking the desire to run at the Mariners backs he continued to kick over, a tactic that just did not work as James Bell, Mikey Jenner and Toby Bradley-Watson started to have a field day running the ball back with more interest than Wonga.com. This backed up by some good solid forward play and the Mariners started to take control with a try from Toby B-W just before half time and replacement flanker Matt Stewart who jinked his way through most of the Eastleigh team to touch down under the posts.

On the side line Rupert Baddersely took it upon himself to prepare the half time drinks for the players and may have been somewhat over generous with the Viper Juice…….10 minutes later and with every player now fully charged the Mariners took to the pitch with a noticed spring in their step and set about destroying the now somewhat despondent opposition.

Following yet another strong kick return from Toby Bradley Watson, Fly Half Cee-lo-Green finally passed out to Inside Center Jason Ludlow who again surprisingly floated a beautiful pass to outside center Ben Mansbridge who flicked on to wing Mikey Jenner who thought about taking on the winger on the outside but wisely played the team game and flicked the ball back into Ben Mansbridge who again played the team game and passed to the Chairman Jason Ludlow who side stepped a defender and lunged for the line to score.

Now reveling in their dominance with another try coming form a quick tap from Andy O’Callaghan the mariners made their final changes and duly fell asleep for a few minutes allowing Eastleigh to get over for a well worked try.

Enough was enough and the mighty mariners turned on the juice for the final 20 minutes with Full Back Toby Bradley-Watson literally destroying the opposition with his scything runs and seemingly impossible to tackle style of play leading to another untouched try for the young full back. (amazing what turning up without a hangover does Toby!!)

The only downside of the game was the unfortunate breaking of Andy O’Callaghan’s nose by one of the Eastleigh players, a blatant punch that the ref did not see.

Man of the match was awarded to Toby Bradley-Watson for an inspirational performance.

Final Hampshire 2 Table – 2011/12

Hampshire Two – 2011/12 Season

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts	BP
Southampton	18	15	1	2	741	208	533	75	13
Aldershot & Fleet	18	14	0	4	450	226	224	66	9
Fareham Heathens	18	12	2	4	446	204	242	62	10
Overton	18	12	0	6	529	279	250	61	13
Lymington Mariners	18	10	1	7	309	429	-120	48	6
Locksheath Pumas	18	9	0	9	347	241	106	44	8
Fawley	18	7	0	11	339	390	-51	33	10
Alresford	18	6	0	12	280	390	-110	31	7
Chineham	18	3	0	15	233	672	-439	17	5
Stoneham Park	18	0	0	18	160	795	-635	4	4

Final Day Results – 14/04/12

RESULTS

HANTS 2: Alresford 5-34 Lymington Mariners

• Match Report

MERIT 3: Eastleigh III 12-34 Lymington II

• Match Report